


Four Years

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Banter, Canon Compliant, Galaxy Garrison, Gen, Humor, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Missing Scene, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Hunk (Voltron), Pre-Canon, Pre-Kerberos Mission, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28135281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Snippets of Hunk’s life at the Galaxy Garrison.
Relationships: Hunk & Keith (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron), Hunk & Ryan Kinkade
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Four Years

**Author's Note:**

> Idk if I deleted or orphaned this before, but whatever, here it is again with some revisions. Also- nobody mentioned in this story is an OC, they’re all either canon or from past Voltron iterations

Fiddling with the card, his hands grew shakier and shakier every time the door panel lit up red in rejection of the key card. 

This was his undoubtedly his room... was it? Hunk flipped over his key card. Room 214. Shuffling through his overloaded arms of stuff, paper flew as he opened up his personal information sheets. Room 214. This room's number? 214. 

The more stable part of his mind yelled at him, why he was even bothering checking all of this again, you've already done this four times, just go find an adult. Unfortunately, the stable part of his mind was in the minority of the anxiety-filled thoughts that typically inhabited his brain. 

Tears began to pinprick at his corners of his eyes as he stared at the door panel, the blank touch screen taunting him with his pitiful reflection in the metal. 

Suddenly, the door blasted open with an explosion of pop music. Well, it didn't blast open in the literal sense, but the sheer levels of _energy_ nearly pushed Hunk back where he was standing. In the door stood a significantly smaller boy, both in height and weight, scrawny even for his age and hasn't yet hit five feet tall. He looked to be Hunk's age, given his face was still kiddish and round while his body hasn't quite caught up to his head. His skin was also brown, albeit lighter than Hunk’s own. 

Tear-filled brown eyes met confused blue ones, before the boy's face nearly split in half with a grin. "Are you my roommate?! 214?" 

"Uhhh... y-yea." Hunk attempted to swallow back his nerves. "That's me." 

"Oh... my god. Oh my god!" The unfamiliar boy crouched down slightly before bouncing up and down in some sort of uncoordinated excited dance, before rushing behind Hunk and pushing him into their shared dorm. "You're my roommate, we're gonna be, like, best buds. I already started unpacking so I hope you like being on the right bed instead of the left, because apparently bunk beds aren't allowed for some stupid reason Veronica _just_ told me about. Ugh, boring.” 

The room itself was as bland as the rest of the Garrison’s interior design, not that Hunk expected any better. The left side of the room was completely upturned with clothing and sheets strewn around while the right side was completely untouched. It was plain and simple, a very typical dorm room, except it wasn’t because Hunk knows that his anxiety is the only reason he’s in a two person room and not an eight person. 

Lance kept babbling as Hunk hauled his suitcases onto his bed, his nerves causing him to make quick work as he unzipped and dumped out his belongings. 

"Sorry if I'm like, overwhelming you or something. I know you're probably thinking 'but I wanted a quiet roommate!' but listen, I swear I'll shut up. Maybe. Eventually. I talk a lot when I'm tired and those airplanes suck the life outta you." Lance rambled, and Hunk shot back some quick reassurances that it was totally fine. He could fully emphasize with that, honestly. 

Hunk was staring at the mess he made on the bed, not exactly registering it, just staring. The exhaustion was starting to hit hard. 

"So, where are you from?" The question snapped Hunk out of his stupor, and he stammered for a few moments before finding his words again. 

"Oh, uh, I'm from Washington." Hunk said, before remembering he usually had to clarify his location. "The state, not the capital." 

"Cool, I don't remember where that is. No, wait!" Lance snapped his fingers. "It's the not-really-a-rectangle one? In the corner below Canada? I was in it's airport once! My family and I went on a vacation and we stayed at the big city place for a few days." 

"Yea, that's it. I'm guessing the city was Seattle." The knot in Hunk's stomach was starting to ease, allowing him to talk more easily and remember his social skills. "Where were you guys headed?" 

"Nebraska. My older sister works at the Garrison's main headquarters. There wasn't any direct flights from Florida to Nebraska, so..." Lance shook his head. "Even worse? Some of my extended family got stuck in customs for two hours after flying in from Cuba. Customs is the worst." 

Well, that was a lot of new information. So Lance is Cuban though he lives somewhere in Florida, which makes perfect sense given his fluency in English and lack of accent. Hunk wondered who Lance's older sister was, his fascination with the Garrison's work and people as well as late-night Wikipedia binges had him familiar with plenty of names. 

Hunk chuckled in response, nodding in agreement. He was _perfectly_ aware of the nightmare that is the U.S. customs system, thank you very much. He was about to open his mouth to ask more questions, but Lance cut his thoughts off with a gasp. 

"Wait!" He spun around 180 degrees faster than Hunk could blink, rummaging carelessly through his suitcase before proudly lifting up a bag. "I got you a goody bag to commemorate the beginning of our adventure as roommates and best buddies!" 

A goody... what? Lance had prepared, for a complete stranger who he wouldn't meet until today, a _goody bag?_

Lance all but chucked it in his direction and Hunk hastily scrabbled to catch it. The goody bag was filled with typical goody bag items, like cheap pencils wrapped in fun paper and a few bouncy balls. Hunk knew he was going to cherish every single fifty cent item he received. 

He‘s definitely gonna be telling his mom about this. 

______

The first two weeks were as awkward as any first two weeks are; none of the students know each other, so most classes involve sitting quietly and occasionally making eye contact with a polite smile. Everything seemed to flow past Hunk like he was in a highway tunnel, an endless stream of blurred lights with no end in sight. At least it was a tunnel rather than a dark cave with endless passageways. 

While Lance and Hunk didn't share any classes yet, Hunk appreciated having him around after the school day ended. Lance had a good sum of knowledge of how the Garrison's academy for high school students runs, much more than Hunk did, so he was often ushered around by his hyperactive friend. At least they shared their lunch time. 

The atmosphere of the Garrison, despite it’s militaristic, formal, and stuffy attitude, was much lighter than Hunk’s middle school. Probably because it was more diverse than said middle school, in both appearance and birthplace, where everyone knew everybody and strict friend groups were set up in kindergarten. Nobody knew anybody at the Garrison with the exception of family relations, and even that was rare. 

That idea used to stress Hunk out, but now that he was surrounded by other confused and friendless people, he realized how much easier it was to make friends. It helped that his roommate is hyper chatty. 

Soon enough, the lunch table he sat at was filled to the brim. Hunk was just tailing Lance at this point, and he’s pretty sure most of the other kids at the table were too. 

Right now, Hunk was half listening to an argument between Lisa, a short Korean girl with comically large rectangular glasses, and his uncontrollable hyperactive best buddy. 

“Even _I_ thought it was easy! The test was a straight copy of the review! Y-“ 

“Okayokayokay, but, have you considered that he just hates me?” 

Her hands flew up in exasperation. “It’s your own fault you failed the test!”

“No way! Have you seen his face? He’s fishy, he looks like a literal fish. Like this.” Lance molded his face into a surprisingly good impression of his geometry teacher. “If there’s anything I learned from Florida beaches is that you can’t trust fish, so I know he’s out for me specifically!” 

“Man, what the hell do you have against fish?” A girl with dyed red hair spoke up. “Fish are so chill. My mom has, like, so many fish.” 

Hunk butted in before the argument could veer into the more ridiculous territory. “Uh, Lance, I watched you bunch up three of the assignments and try to make baskets with them.” 

”Phhht. It was useless stuff anyway! I’m gonna fight him.” 

“Dude, you’re like, four feet tall.” 

“Four foot ten and three-quarters! And it doesn’t matter, I’ll just aim at his kneecaps and go whap-bam-“ Lance flailed his arms in an sad attempt of a karate chop, “-and he’s in the hospital.” 

“...And you’ll be kicked out of the Garrison.” 

“Worth it!” 

In Lance’s defense, the teacher never explains anything on the worksheet and Lance _has_ made multiple attempts to get through them. But he didn’t mention that. 

———

Hunk really, really hated how the desks were set up in his precalculus class. It was straight out of the worst nightmares of an interior designer. There’s only nine kids in the class, and yet the teacher had the audacity to organize it this way. 

First offender, every desk was clumped up by the professor’s desk and faced towards the whiteboard, no gaps except for a place for him to move in and out. It was a disordered and godless clump of desks (heartily dubbed The Clump) that forced some of the students to climb over other people to get to their chairs, which successfully traps them all in during the entire class block. It was pure laziness on the professor’s part; he didn’t want to speak up, he didn’t want to stand, and he certainly didn’t want to do the treacherous work of handing out assignments to the large sum of _nine_ students. 

Hunk himself was jammed right next to the desk, he could practically count the dust particles on it. Next to him was a boy with an unruly afro who, thankfully, was willing to work with Hunk about the assignments. And also snuck in gum. The only issue with this student is that Hunk still didn’t know his name, but hey, that’s only a mild inconvenience. He’ll figure it out eventually. 

Looking around at the right other students, Hunk accidentally made eye contact with the blonde girl who sat at the outer edges of The Clump, who then grimaced slightly and looked back at her paper. Another student whose name Hunk didn’t know. He’s definitely lagging on the name department this year. 

After class ended, the students untangled themselves from The Clump. Hunk and his desk neighbor tended to be the only ones that chatted afterwards, which made Hunk feel like some kind of social butterfly. Something he absolutely is not. 

“Just saying, compared to my middle school, the food here is great. Not saying it’s good! Just a bit more edible.” 

“I thought my intestines would explode after eating the pizza! That’s not edible!” Hunk groaned. 

“At least you can eat it! At my school, the pizza wasn’t even pizza, it was cardboard! I might as well been eating the box it came it!” 

Hunk laughed. “And that’s why I brought pack lunches.” 

“Can’t complain then, dude. You’re living the true school experience.” 

“If that’s what makes it a true school experience, then I wanna go back home! My poor stomach...” 

They waved and parted ways to their next classes. Not watching where he was going, Hunk collided into a slightly smaller boy, who scowled and shoved past him. 

Well, that soured his mood quickly. 

———

“Hey, my man, quick question.” 

“Yea?” 

“Why is the air conditioner on full blast. At night. With these thin blankets.” 

“Uh, because I like it cold?” 

“Okay, well I don’t! I keep freezing like a popsicle!” 

“That’s your problem, not mine. It’s not-“

“Yes it’s your problem too, because I’ll be annoying about-!” 

“It’s not my problem you’re a stick!” 

_“Hey!”_

Hunk woke up the next morning with his blanket missing. 

———

Hunk prides himself on being very observant of his surroundings. His older sister calls it nosiness, but Hunk believes that if there's no lock on the door then it's open to the public. What can he say? He loves a good mystery. 

So, three weeks into class, Hunk was thrown a new difficult side quest in his mission to get to know every one of his classmates. It was a tedious task, but he's made plenty of friends already and is now officially at the center of the gossip ring. 

The "new kid" in his chemistry class was introduced in a very boring and non-cliche way, the teacher just sat them in the available seat right next to Hunk. A real shame, because that was formerly Hunk's backpack's seat. 

Immediately, the anxiety factor kicked in. This kid was very anxiety-inducing for reasons Hunk dismissed as anxiety-induced stupidity. Hell, maybe this kid has anxiety too, considering how he(? Probably?) _never talks_ , except for the brief moment he had a quiet conversation with the teacher before he quickly sat down with hunched shoulders. 

Maybe this could be the start of a beautiful, beautiful friendship. Maybe. 

Hunk started to take notes as soon as he sat down. The other student, who Hunk heartily dubbed as Anime Protagonist, had short, choppy black hair that looked like it was done with kitchen scissors. It’s so scrappy and awful but Hunk kind of digs it. 

Well, that was until the class started up again. Anime Protagonist dozed off, didn't take notes, and looked like he would rather be anywhere but there. It made Hunk stressed just watching it- these were core and fundamental skills that every aspiring garrison student should know!- and any conversation starters were pretty much ignored. There goes the fantastical ideas of becoming best friends. 

The next time he walked into the class, he was sitting alone again, so he shrugged and let his backpack reclaim it’s rightful throne. The Anime Protagonist was sitting at a differently designed desk that was obviously pulled from the storage room. 

Hunk had a sinking feeling in his gut that he did something wrong. He tried not to dwell on it. 

______

“Hunk, look at this!” 

He looked up right as Lance positioned himself a few feet away from the trash can and spat out his gum. It landed unceremoniously a foot away from it’s target. 

“Dude, gross!” 

“Gah!” Lance picked it up and stared at it, before turning back to Hunk. “Listen, if that made it, that would’ve been so cool. Lemme try again.” 

“No, wait!” Hunk yelled as Lance went to put the gum back in his mouth. “That’s disgusting! Do you even know what’s on these floors?!” 

”Uh, I do, actually. It’s our germs, who cares?” 

“Your immune system cares!” 

Lance looked back at the chewed up gum for a few seconds, popped it in his mouth, and spat it again. It missed, and the same argument started up again. 

______

Hunk finally learned what his desk neighbor’s name is. Ryan. 

Ryan, speaking of which, recently cut his hair due to being a flight student applicant, a tragedy to end all tragedies. Hunk will deeply miss the hair that could hold pencils. 

______

"Hunk! Hunkhunkhunkhunkhunk! Hunk the hunk! The best guy!" 

Hunk lifted his gaze slowly over his chemistry textbook in a way that can only be described as overdramatic, wiggling his eyebrows as they made eye contact. Lance was staring down at him, hands on his hips which instantly reminded Hunk of his mom. Of course, he wiggled his eyebrows in return, it was a wordless language. 

The eyebrow wiggles increased in pace and Hunk was beginning to feel mildly patronized. If this was about helping Lance with geometry homework for the fifth time in two days then nope, hell no, he's going down and turning himself into in school suspension so he can finally be alone to study. That's not how it works, but whatever. 

"I... have an offer. That you. Can't. Refuse." Lance's hips snapped back and forth at every word, making Hunk laugh behind his heavy textbook. 

"Are you finally asking me to help you join drama class? Proud of you, man. You'll do great." 

"Wh-w- I- NO!" He sputtered. "For the last time I'm not joining drama class! I'm a one-hundred percent serious person at all hours of the day!" 

“Uh-huh. Sure you are.” 

Lance crinkled his nose at him and flopped back onto his bed. “Ugh. Suspense ruined.” 

“Sooo...” Hunk glanced over, “what’s the offer?” 

“Okay. Listen up.” 

“I’m listening.” 

“You’re in engineering.” 

“Uh-huh.” 

“I’m in piloting.” 

“Riiiight...?” 

“We,” Lance pointed back and forth between the two of them, “have an opportunity. As a team. A real, true, pilot-engineer _team_.” 

Hunk’s eyes widened and tossed aside the textbook. “Wait, are you serious?! I-I mean... I actually qualify?” 

“Of course you do! Have you seen your grades?!” Lance leaped up from his bed. “I asked that Iverson guy to see if you could be my designated engineer next semester and he was like-“ his voice dropped into a gruff impression- “as long as that friend of yours keeps up his grades blah blah blah, then I don’t see any problems. So I got to put you down on my flight application.” 

Hunk’s jaw was on the floor. Keeping his hopes low really payed off in the end. They celebrated by sneaking in snacks past curfew and consequently got in trouble the next morning, but neither cared. 

______

Lance yawned obnoxiously from the other side of the room. Hunk looked up, since that yawn was the yawn he made when he about to complain about something. Lance was lying in that dramatic pose he made when he, again, was about to complain about something. 

“Ughhh.” There it is. “Have you seen that one guy?” 

“That one guy?” 

“Yea, that one guy.” Lance waved his arms aimlessly. 

“That’s very descriptive.” 

“Y’know!” 

Hunk stared back and wondered who on earth his roommate could possibly be complaining about. This could be anyone from an annoying teacher, to an administrator, to a nameless classmate in a class Hunk isn’t in. 

“I really... don’t.” He said as he looked back at Lance, who was staring intensely at the ceiling with an irritated look on his face. 

“He’s white.” 

“That doesn’t help! There’s a lot-“

“Brown hair! Skinny. You’ve seen him.” 

“There’s a lot of white skinny brown haired boys in the world.” Hunk waved a hand. “I don’t need to know who he is, just tell me what’s up.” 

“He’s in my math class. He’s not annoying, but, like, he is? He’s an okay person, I guess, I don’t talk to him, but on the last test he went up to the teacher and started complaining about his grade.” Lance’s tone started to get frustrated as he talked. “Guess what he got?” 

“What?” 

“A ninety-three! Ninety-three! I nearly failed that test, Lisa _did_ fail that test, and Rocky _bombed it _. I know I’m not the best example of smartness but both of them aren’t stupid! And he’s just like, ‘waahhh, I got a ninety-three and not a shiny ninety-five! I can’t put this test on the refrigerator’! He got rid of our chances for a curve, too, and, ughhhh. He has no right to complain!”__

__“I feel you, man, all of my classes consist only of those kinds of people, except a few. It’s awful.” Hunk doubts the anime protagonist cares, or that girl in his math class that violates the dress code on the daily. “Like come on, I get you’re trying to be top of the class, but it just sounds like they’re rubbing it in everyone’s faces.”_ _

__“ _Exactly!_ Everyone around me was angry even if we didn’t say anything. You could feel it. The energy was _suffocating_.” _ _

__“Wow, nice vocabulary.”_ _

__“Thanks! I’m a known master of English.” Lance said in an exaggerated accent. The room was silent for a moment before he sat up suddenly. “Speaking of annoying things, did you get called up yet?”_ _

__“Uh, no. I think you’re the one that’s gonna have the meeting.”_ _

__“Really? I thought it’d be you.”_ _

__“You’re the one that’s gonna be flying. I’m just the sidekick.”_ _

__“Oh, come on, man, the engineer is just as important as the pilot!”_ _

__“Yea, yea.”_ _

__The conversation trailed off. Hunk decided he was tired of doing “homework” aka “work you do in your precious free time despite this being a boarding school”, sloppily shoving off his papers and picking up a book his mom gave him, one of her old books that used to stay dusty and untouched on the bookshelf. It wasn’t exactly a great book, nor a genre he enjoyed, but he read it regardless._ _

_________ _

__Less than a month away from summer vacation and Lance was already beginning to pack his bags. Hunk can’t say he blamed him. What was more shocking was how much _stuff_ Lance had accumulated over the past year. Some of it had Hunk question where he even got it in the first place, when did he get monstrously large wool socks? Did his family send him those? It’s Arizona, not Alaska. _ _

__Suddenly, Lance gasped loud enough that Hunk almost jumped out of his skin. His roommate whipped around so fast there was an audible pop, picking up his phone and waving it around._ _

__“I almost forgot to tell you! Look! Looklooklook!” He bounced over to Hunk, stopping as he pulled something up on his phone, before shoving it under his nose._ _

___Lance McClain,_ _ _

___Congratulations! You’ve been selected to be in the Cadet Aviation Program._ _ _

___Please meet with your designated counselor to have your schedule accommodated for the next semester._ _ _

___Any questions can be taken to my office (E24) between 4-6PM._ _ _

___Sincerely,__  
Commander M. Iverson  
Junior Aviation Instruction  
Galaxy Garrison_

__“How could you forget something like this?!” Hunk shouted, a smile still on his face. “Oh my god, dude! We’re in a flight team! You’re gonna be a pilot!”_ _

__Lance let himself be swooped into a hug, laughing. “You know me, my memory is shit like that!”_ _

__________ _

__Hunk walked out of the gangplank slightly disoriented, the other students behind him being the only reason he didn’t stop in his tracks. He was definitely dehydrated. Those tiny drinks they give you on the flight are never enough, and he had to get ginger ale after his stomach started upsetting him during a patch of rough air. Vomiting on the flight wouldn’t have been a good look on the group, even if they were out of uniform. His stomach never agreed with turbulence._ _

__Therefore, he has been far too many hours without water and it was beginning to affect his balance just a bit, on top of the general discomfort of The Post-Airplane Experience. There was nothing new to see, he’s been in this airport far too many times to count, and he really didn’t miss the bright, dizzying overhead lights._ _

__Two students, presumably siblings, chattered as they were escorted away to their next flight. Hunk was the next to be taken away from the group, being the only one not on a transfer flight (to his surprise, or as much surprise as he could muster with how cruddy he felt). He was practically shoved into the baggage claim and then he was left to his own devices, directed to an information booth if he was lost._ _

__Hunk suddenly felt very short. At the Garrison, he was relatively taller than most of his classmates, but he felt tiny in this crowd of adults as he waited for his bumblebee-themed suitcase to cycle around. It was one of the last to arrive._ _

__As he waited, he kept checking outside the large window panes to see if his parents’ familiar red van had arrived. They weren’t supposed to arrive for the next fifteen minutes, but he checked anyway. Still not there. Not everyone was in the pickup party, just his parents and sister, which he was grateful for now that he felt absolutely awful. A full family reunion would decidedly not help his dehydration headache._ _

__Once he hauled off his suitcase, he absentmindedly wandered out the door and int- _oh my god it’s cold._ It’s cold. Super duper mega crazy cold. _ _

__Hunk quickly reached into his suitcase and clumsily dragged out his jacket. Only a year in Arizona and he’s already lost his cold acclimation. What kind of northerner is he?_ _

__Once he successfully fumbled his way into his jacket, Hunk looked around again for the banged up red van in the constant stream of dull-colored cars. To his surprise, he was called over from a short distance away. He watched as his mom hopped out of a shiny new beige van and sprinted towards him faster than he’s ever seen her run._ _

__“Look who it is, my sweet baby!” Hunk let himself be swooped into a tight hug that could only be rivaled by himself. “You’ve grown so much, you’re practically an adult!”_ _

__He laughed, inwardly doubting that statement. He let his cheeks be squished for the next few minutes before they began to make their way back to the uh... uh....._ _

__“Uhhh...” Hunk vaguely pointed at the unfamiliar _beige minivan_. _ _

__His older sister, Lea, poked her head out. “We got a new car for the family! It’s not much bigger but the brake system is updated so Mom will stop beating up the bumper. Hopefully.”_ _

__His mom jumped in at that. “It’s not just me!”_ _

__“Oh... that’s cool!” Hunk said in a strained tone. It was not cool. It was beige._ _

__Hopping into the back seat as Lea moved to the other side, thankfully, so Hunk didn’t have to crawl over her. Once they were settled in, his dad reached back from the driver’s seat to hand him a bag. “One free meal for our rising star!”_ _

__Hunk gasped, digging into the bag. “Food! Real food!”_ _

__“Was the food that bad?” Lea laughed. “With how much we’re paying, I thought they’d feed you a bit better.”_ _

__“It’s awful! One of my friends told me that it’s good for school lunches, but it’s all so gross and bland and... ugh!” He pulled out the sandwich, wrapped neatly along with a banana, cookie, and a bottle of water. “I missed home food so bad.”_ _

__“And we missed you!” His mom reached back and squished his cheek. Again. He laughed, his dad chuckled, and his headache was already beginning to fade._ _


End file.
